Thursday, June 21, 2007

Kisi Shayar ki Ghazal...

It is 5:30 PM. I have a flight at 6:30, and the airport is still some distance away. I am getting fidgety. My driver misses a traffic signal, I start fidgeting some more. Then it happens...

An auto stops to the left of us. I turn my head. The auto is slightly ahead of us, so all I can see of the passenger are the legs. She is wearing a red salwar kameez, and sandals of the ethnic variety, like the ones you'd get at Janpath - I never liked Janpath stuff particularly but I knew someone who did, so ended up going there and buying a lot. A few memories return but only for a fleeting second as curiosity takes over and I crane my head slightly. I can see her hands now, they are small, and she is drumming her fingers, fiddling with the phone.- she has the same Nokia as I do. And she is wearing brown nail-polish.

I am interrupted by a small kid who comes to the window, peddling tabloids. He tries a few times, but finding me uninterested, goes to the auto next. She takes one and then brings out her purse from the other side, and pays him. And then my driver inches slightly ahead and I get a look...

Golden brown, texture like sunLays me down, with my mind she runs

The light turns green and we speed ahead. I try saying something; nothing comes out, I mutter to the driver to rush, and he complies. I make it to the airport and fly back home.